We are OK Go! We're here to talk, Reddit, so Ask Us Anything!

I think you guys would be perfect for a Super Bowl half time performance. What do you think?

I think YES! It would take a lot of special camera choreography and would be incredibly challenging from that perspective. But I'd love it if OK Go were considered. -Tim

How do you respond to critics that call you a video band, implying that the theatrics and videos are more substantive than the actual music?

We just don't subscribe to last century's categorical definitions aas much as most folks do... When I was in high school in the 90's, music came in one container (a CD), films came in another (theaters), tv came in another (that box in your living room), journalism another (newsprint), and on and on ad infinitum. Now every one of those supposedly distinct cultural forms is distributed the exact same way -- all of them are ones and zeros that you get through your phone or laptop -- and the boundaries between them are more and more arbitrary every day. So we chase our creative ideas wherever they lead, and it doesn't particularly bother us if an idea winds up being visual as opposed to auditory. For us, the joy is in making stuff, and we feel super lucky that we have such a broad and inspiring canvas to work with. Plus, we love our songs. Every band has critics... fuck'em. -- damian

We have lots of great answers for this - but deep down I know I love making the music - I'd do it with these guys regardless if anyone heard it or liked it. It's art, it allows us to express things to each other - and hopefully other people - and that brings all closer. it feels great to make. - Dan

As a mediocre person, can I really do exceptional things?

nope. most of my lyrics are lies. sorry -- damian.

Everyday! -Tim

Where did the group name come from?

The name OK Go is an old inside joke from when Damian and I were 11 and met at summer arts camp in Northern Michigan. It's something our stoned art teacher would say to us right before he expected us to have an artistic psychedelic awakening. -Tim

How do you keep from being caught in the "bigger and better" trap with each of your videos?

The only way to avoid the trap is just to focus on what you're making presently and make the best thing you possibly can, and I think we do that pretty well. When you try to "beat" something or make a "hit", you're almost guaranteed to make something bad.

-Andy

Tomorrow you are completely free but you have the chance to spend the day with your 12-year-old self from the past. What do you do together?

I think we'd spend the entire time trying to figure out how we had just achieved time travel, probably. -- Damian

I ride bikes with him - maybe play drums together. Maybe see a movie. Ask him a lot of questions about mom and dad. -- Dan

Teach him how to meditate. -Tim

When I was 24 almost every day consisted of working in my run-down Long Island City shed-recording-studio all day then watching the Red Sox game. I guess not a ton has changed.

-Andy

You guys are so creative! I love seeing the new ideas for videos that you guys come up with. The Zero G is def my new favorite!

Anyway, for my question.

Who is the most creative in the band? Who comes up with these epic ideas? Also, who are your guy's favorite bands?

Creativity isn't a one-dimensional trait, like height. We are all creative in different ways. -- Damian

Damian is only saying this because he's the tallest.

-Andy

Also, the question about where the ideas come from.... People usually assume when they see our videos that the whole idea sprung out fully formed. But what you see as a complicated, elaborate single idea is actually a simple, ridiculous idea followed by a long process of development and collaboration which turn it into a better idea, and hopefully a thing that actually exists, rather than just another crazy idea. In short: having crazy ideas is easy, but getting them to happen is hard. -- Damian

And also, it's a well known fact that the tallest person in any band is the best person in that band. -- Damian.

Absolutely love the video for Upside Down & Inside Out - What was the process like to film it? How long did it take? Any interesting stories from filming in zero gravity?

It was the craziest adventure I've ever been on. It was thrilling and terrifying. Zero gravity is such a foreign feeling that I'm still trying to figure out a way to describe the experience. We spent 3 weeks outside of Moscow rehearsing and filming. Most people know that the zero gravity flights cause a lot of people to throw up. No one in the band nor Trish our director threw up. But there was a lot of throwing up around us from the crew. Almost 60 barf ups! -Tim

I'll be honest: I was scared shitless on the first flight. Not literally shitless, but, nonetheless, I didn't have the best time early-on. --Andy

Here are some Behind The Scenes clips, and there are more coming over then next few days:

Guff - http://guff.com/ok-go-in-zero-gravity/this-is-from-us

Sweet -  https://www.facebook.com/HiWeAreSweet/videos/543510315823210/

Stereogum - http://www.stereogum.com/1858765/behind-the-scenes-of-ok-gos-zero-gravity-upside-down-inside-out-video/video/?utm_source=sc-fb&utm_medium=ref&utm_campaign

Does the band have a pre show routine?

We get dressed in the most dirty stinky clothes you could ever imagine - stand around shouting into the air that we can hear sound coming through our in-ear monitors - and then right before we hit the stage we get eveyone on our crew to put their hands together and in unison say; : "and you don't stop and you don't quit... Fun!"

Is this why Damian wears the same striped shirt every time he's on stage?

I have dozens of striped shirts. But all of them smell that bad at this point. -- damian

What is your most awkward fan encounter?

I once had a guy in the street ask me if I was the guy in OKGo. And I said, "No, but I get that all of the time." And then he said, "Yeah now that I'm seeing you up close it's obvious that you're not. But from a distance you really look like him." -Tim

One of us was getting fully stalked by a super fan - she stopped me in the hotel lobby. She wanted to rape one of us. We moved to a different hotel - Dan

What are your thoughts about Kanye West?

I am very impressed with Kanye's assessment that, because he is the greatest living artist, he needs $1B from M. Zuckerberg. Following that logic, I would like to say that, while we are not the greatest living band, we're probably in the top thousand or so, and I believe we are thus entitled to somewhere in the neighborhood of $315 from Mark Z. -- Damian

I love his records. he reminds me of someone off the WWE. He's putting on a show. It works. I enjoy watching his antics. They don't really bother me. If he ends up making a crappy record, I think that would bother me worse. - Dan

Thumbs up.

-Andy

The band is stranded on mars, there is an escape pod but it only holds one band member. Who lives and what song is playing as the pod jettisons away?

Dan lives because he has a kid. And we play the song "Fuck you for stranding us here, Dan," which we're currently working on for the next album. -- Damian

Me - Dan "Hot For Teacher" Van Halen

Which dog in 'White Knuckles' was your personal favorite?

The brown and white border collie. I can't remember his name because I've spent too much time in zero-g. --Andy

Love you guys!

Simple question - which video do you guys like better for This Too Shall Pass? And why?

Picking between two of our videos is a little like picking between two of your children. I love them both, in different ways. But I think what we did with the video for the recorded track (the Rube Goldberg version, as opposed to the live marching band recording) was more of a "first". I had never seen an RGM that runs in time to music before, where the mechanical activities are actually choreographed to occur at precise moments in time. -- Damian

Tough, but RGM version is just too much of beast to not take the prize here.

-Andy

It's really hard to pick a favorite. I love the heart of the marching band version. And I love the impossibility of the Rube Goldberg version. - Tim

Thanks so much for everyone's questions. Lets do it again sometime!! That was fun. I'm signing off for now. Take are everyone! -Tim

Now that you have toured for a few years, has leaving home become easier or harder to manage? Do you still enjoy the thrill of the road like you did when you first set off?

I find that touring actually gets harder as you get older. the novelties of travel (at least of that very particular type of travel) wear off, and it's tough to have your "normal" life become so episodic and broken up. I still love playing the shows -- the hour or two on stage is always great -- but the toll it takes on the rest of life feels greater as we get older ,sadly. -- damian

Truth. --Andy

Well... it's definitely harder. It's still thrilling to play music in front of people but now with having a child it's much harder. Unless he comes to the show - then it's the best thing in the world. - Dan

I always get incredibly homesick when I first leave for tour. I'm a super homebody. I eventually get use to the rhythm of tour. But in a lot of ways I am the most unlikely candidate to be in a band and tour. I'm a dorky dude who loves being home. All that said I realize what incredible luck we have to be able to tour. And the thrill of playing shows, connecting, and sharing with people is what makes touring worth it. -Tim

Your music videos are so much fun to watch, but they feature Cirque du Soleil-level acrobatics. What inspired you guys to go this direction? What kind of training do you have to do?

No training.. Just do. And try not to puke. - Dan

When preparing to go in front of an audience, what is your "go to thing" to get in the mood? (some artist box, some listen to rap/country/a specific artist, and some do a line) What do each of you do?

Computer programming gets me into a zen state. This is not a joke. --Andy

i can confirm that he is not joking. -- Damian

I strangely try to stay really calm and quiet. Maybe I'm trying to conserve my energy for stage. But I can sometime shake or rattle myself if I try to get too hyped before a show. And then I get to stage and forget everything I'm suppose to do. So basically, I'll sit and just stare at the wall a lot of the time. Or just pace around and try to clear my mind. -Tim

You've become the quintessential example of Rube Goldberg machines (and have seen multiple music videos by teachers to demonstrate this concept). What inspired you to make a video so needlessly complex?

Well, getting a Rube Goldberg machine to run for three and a half minutes is going to require a litttttttle complexity. --Andy

Andy is being modest. Making an RGM was his idea. He showed me a video of one that someone had made in their office and we started imaging what it would be like if we could scale it up and make it "dance" to the music. --damian

What unwritten rule would you immediately start breaking if society didn't pressure you to feel guilty about it?

I'd eat chocolate for all three meals. -Tim

Tim is lying. He would eat chocolate 10 meals a day. -- Damain

Aside from your own music videos, what is your favourite music video?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=651UYYxrfh0 --damian

What song would you most like to cover?

One song I've always wanted to cover, but haven't, is the Catch by The Cure. I don't know why the desire to cover that song is so strong. It's definitely not a super well known Cure song. But I think it's my favorite of there's. It's just really simple and beautiful. It feels like he's describing a fairly quiet moment in life. And I think there's something really nice and charming about that. -Tim

What is a music video idea that you guys deemed "TOO crazy to do?"

In all honesty I don't think this has happened. --Andy

How much paint did Tim get in his ears during filming the newest video? I saw some of the behind the scenes stuff and it looked like every balloon he popped went straight into his ears

Yes, lots of paint got into my ears on most takes. And I would always try to shake it out, but it wouldn't come out! It would all come pouring out once double gravity set in. But there were takes where paint would get in my ears and then on my glasses. So I couldn't see or hear very well. -Tim

Do you guys still talk to original band member Andy Duncan? If so, what is he up to these days?

I do. He's great!! Still making awesome music and sounds for movies. - Dan

How much work was it to clean up after each of the shootings for the end scene for upside down/inside out ? Was the paint special to make clean up easier?

The paint was water based, and still wet when the plane landed. I don't know how our Russian cleanup crew did it, but the plane was spotless in about an hour. Though, the cleaning left the inside very wet. You can actually see towards the end of the video, our aerialists are sitting on magazines so their clothes don't have huge wet spots. --Andy

And because it was October in Russia, the water didn't dry over night, it just froze. So each day when we'd start up again, it would melt and we'd go on shooting in our soggy plane. -- Damian

Is there singer/band you guys would love to collaborate with? Also, what is the latest album you're listening to?

If there was ever a chance to do something with Daft Punk I would love that. Been listening to a lot of 813 recently: https://soundcloud.com/813 And the Life of Pablo by Kanye West. - Tim

Way back in 2002, I thought I'd heard on NPR that your first album was originally very prog-rock and was rerecorded into what was released. Is that in the past - or might we hear those original recordings someday?

I believe a lot of those original recordings are out there in the world. And if not I would be totally happy to have that early material available. I think in the early days of learning how to write and record songs we made some really really strange but interesting choices at times because we were just kind of like, "I don't know what to do here, tryyyyyyyyyy THIS!!!" And it would be some incredibly weird left turn. That stuff is fun for me to go back and listen to now. -Tim

What are your guy's favorite superpowers?

Flight.. I know that's kinda boring but really, it'd be so damn useful. - Dan

What's your favorite go-to meal when you're craving something tasty?

Pizza. Always pizza. -Tim

Cereal... from Dan

Those almonds with the truffle oil from Trader Joe's. Truffles are mushrooms? That's crazy. --Andy

Always PIZZA and almost always Chocolate.

Now that you've been to space, shot a video inside a Rube Goldberg machine and ran on treadmills, is there anything left you to do in this Solar System? How do you guys plan on topping what you've done so far?

(btw I also really like the original marching band this too shall pass music video, mainly because I know some people that got to be in it)

I'd like to time travel and film a video in the year say, 1873. I know there would be a lot of logistical and technological challenges. But I'm up for it. -Tim

What was it like to collaborate with Perfume, MIKIKO, Daito Manabe, and ELEVENPLAY? And what drew you to collaborate with them in the first place? They all seem very fond of OK Go and I'm really excited to see all the cool projects you have been working on together!

Daito is an amazing guy, and a really inspired collaborator, and geting to know ELEVENPLAY and Perfume has been amazing. The project we've been chasing with Rhizomatiks is unfortunately on hold right now, though. One of the prices we pay for trying to tackle really ambitious projects is that they sometimes get stuck halfway... Right now, it's unclear if our collaboration with Daito will get across the finish line. We remain optimistic, of course. -- Damian

What was the most difficult obstacle to overcome in making the zero gravity music video?

Probably that it's very difficult to pull off the same move twice in zero gravity. The quality of zero g was different each parabola. So being able to push off of something and fly in exactly the same way every take was incredibly difficult. We tried to choreograph around those issues as best we could. And eventually everyone got pretty good at hitting their marks. -Tim

Good one! For me, the toughest thing was to figure a way to stop slamming my head against the meddle bar on the ceiling of the plane. (it had nothing to with the video - I just couldnt stop slamming my head) - Dan

Damian, would you ever be interested in another 8in8 project? Loved the outcome of the last one.

yeah, that would be fun. I just saw Amanda 20 minutes ago because we're both at the TED conference. I think I'm going to sing with her tonight. --damian

Hey, guys! Big fan of your music and videos! Do you guys have any funny or just plain strange stories from shooting any of your music videos or just on tour?

In the End Love video there is a large goose that follows us around the whole time. Totally unplanned and probably my favorite part of the video.We named it Orange Bill. - Dan

Can someone explain the "UNDERWATER" inside joke?

The "under water" inside joke reveal was just DELETED by OK Go overlord. Move along now. - Dan

did Virtual Insanity inspire Upside Down & Inside Out at all?

But that video was pretty inspirational in general. One of those amazing pieces of work -- great song, great video, great feeling -- that made me want to spend my life chasing ideas like the ones we do. -- Damian

I don't think so. - Dan

What is your favourite and least favourite part of touring?

What is your favourite and least favourite part of touring?

Favorite: Getting to play an hour of music every day with my best friends in front of great fans.

Least favorite: Everything else.

-Andy

Why did you pursue a career as a professional musician?

It was going to be just as difficult as being a sound engineer - Dan

We love music. We love making things. And we love chasing our wildest and craziest ideas. The career path we've chosen is a pretty uncertain one. But I think we all love what we do enough to face the scary parts of uncertainty. And it helps when we have each other to face them with. -Tim

I have been a fan of your guys' music for a long time, and I've always wondered over the years, where does the inspiration for your music videos come from? Thanks for taking the time to do this for the fans and continuing to create art in both visual and musical forms :-)

The very loose ideas can come from anywhere (a story on the radio, a talk we heard, a talk with a friend...) but as I've alluded to in other answers, the real meat of the idea actually comes in the collaborative play process. I was just responding to an interviewer by email on a related topic... pasting here:

Our process is kind of different from how people normally film things. The normal process can sort of be boiled down to two steps: a lot of very careful planning, and then a vey efficient period of shooting. It makes a lot of sense, because shooting is so expensive; that’s when you’ve got your big crew, all the equipment, locations, permits, and all of that. So generally the first step is to sit down at a desk, think through all the obstacles, and make an air-tight plan. It saves a ton of money, but it means you wind up limited to ideas it’s possible to have at a desk.

Our process always includes at least a third step. We still start with the idea, of course, but once we’ve got a promising one (it seems likely we can build a good arc within it, etc), we put ourselves into the scenario and leave ourselves a lot of time to play around and see what works. Whether it’s playing with dogs, or with machines, or with optical illusions, once we’re actually in the situation, we start having ideas there’s no way we could possibly have imagined in advance, and those become the real skeleton of the project. Then we go back and do the more traditional preparation once we have the new and improved idea, and eventually we’re ready to shoot.

--damian

What should I have for supper tonight?

Linguini with white clam sauce. That's what I want - Dan

What is your favorite color?

You'll need to come to a show to find out. --Andy

What is your favourite city to play? Fave venue?

Paris. Wherever in Paris. - Dan

Love your music! Quick question: In your chain reaction video, how much money did you spend setting everything up over and over?

In the Rube Goldberg video for This Too Shall Pass we tried to design the machine so that the small more precarious parts were in the beginning of the video. So if something that was more likely to fail did, at least we wouldn't be in minute three. If something failed early on, set up was around 5-10 minutes. But if it was later in the video set could take an hour. -Tim